Cing
- This article is about the Japanese video game developer. For the radio station in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, see CING-FM.
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video game industry |
| Founded | April 1999 |
| Defunct | March 2010 |
| Fate | Bankrupt |
| Headquarters | Fukuoka, Japan |
Key people | Takuya Miyagawa, CEO/President |
Number of employees | 29 (as of Jan. 2006) |
| Website | http://www.cing.co.jp/ [dead link] |
Cing, Inc. (株式会社シング, Kabushiki-gaisha Shingu) (styled CiNG) was an independent video game developer based out of Fukuoka, Japan. The company, a small development house employing only 29 people, was founded in April 1999, and was run by Takuya Miyagawa, who served as President and CEO. Miyagawa also acted as the producer on all of Cing's titles. The company filed for bankruptcy on March 1, 2010. Their website, formerly at http://www.cing.co.jp/, no longer exists.
Since releasing Glass Rose for the PlayStation 2 in 2003, Cing had enjoyed a close working relationship with Nintendo. Two projects were created in cooperation with the publisher for their Nintendo DS handheld system, both of which received sequels (one for the Nintendo DS and one for the Wii). Cing also released the critically acclaimed Little King's Story for the Wii.
History
Founded on April 22, 1999, Cing was created as a means of providing gamers with new and unique video game experiences. The studio's first project was providing the core production for Capcom's Glass Rose, an adventure title for Sony's PlayStation 2. Unfortunately, despite having Masahiro Matsuoka's likeness (from the popular Japanese pop group Tokio) for its main character, the title failed to prove successful at retail and was never localized in North America, but did see a European release.
In early 2005, Cing released the adventure title Another Code: Two Memories for the DS, which marked their first project produced with Nintendo. The game made extensive use of the various unique capabilities of the DS, and proved to be a fairly moderate success. The studio's next project, Hotel Dusk: Room 215, was another adventure title making specific use of the DS functionality, including holding the system sideways to play (similar to Nintendo's Brain Age titles).
On March 13, 2007, Cing announced their next-generation video game title for the Nintendo Wii, titled Little King's Story. The game was released in Australia and Europe in April 2009, in North America on July 21, 2009, and in Japan on September 3, 2009. In November 2009, Cing announced Last Window: The Secret of Cape West, the sequel to Hotel Dusk: Room 215 for Nintendo DS. It was released on January 14, 2010 in Japan and September 17, 2010 in Europe. There has been no official announcement regarding whether or not Last Window: The Secret of Cape West will be released in North America; there has also been no news of the name being registered for copyright in North America.
Cing filed for bankruptcy in Japan on March 1, 2010.[1] The company was reportedly suffering from liabilities of 256 million yen (USD 2.9m/EUR 2.1m).[2]
Games developed
| Title | Date | Publisher(s) | Platform(s) | Region(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glass Rose | 6 November 2003 | Capcom | PlayStation 2 | JP, EU |
| Another Code: Two Memories | 24 February 2005 | Nintendo | Nintendo DS | JP, EU, AUS, NA |
| Hotel Dusk: Room 215 | 22 January 2007 | NA, JP, AUS, EU | ||
| Monster Rancher DS | 7 August 2008 | Tecmo | JP, NA | |
| Another Code: R – A Journey into Lost Memories[3] | 5 February 2009 | Nintendo | Wii | JP, EU |
| Little King's Story | 22 April 2009 | Marvelous Entertainment | AUS, EU, NA, JP | |
| Again | 10 December 2009 | Tecmo | Nintendo DS | JP, NA |
| Last Window: The Secret of Cape West | 14 January 2010 | Nintendo | JP, EU |